Death in the Gorge

14 January 2010

The sun did appear but teasingly first thing this morning, but by 10 o’clock it was a distant memory as we finished the rest of our ski in flat-light. What else is new! Anyway, we all had pretty good mornings despite a Foehn wind and the lack of visibility. Andreas headed towards the Sache via the Chardonnet and had an excellent ski while Thomas, Chris and I opted for the Fornet. My team skied a good Combe du Signal followed by an excellent variation of the Combe du 3300 before finishing with a lovely Col Pers. Chris and Thomas skied similar runs but Thomas began with a very good Grand Vallon. I skied this afternoon with Aussie Steve and his wife Robyn, and she was brilliant in the powder and will be joining Henry’s group tomorrow. Well done Robyn! I took Katie to watch the animation in town this evening, which she really enjoyed with all the horses running about and trick riding. (Millie missed it through bad behaviour.) I’m not too sure about the forecast tomorrow but hopefully the Foehn will die down and we’ll get some vis. A demain.

Tragedy in the Gorge.

Tourists were trapped in the gorge late this afternoon and there were two helicopters involved in the rescue plus numerous Pisteurs. Helicopters were flying back and forth for quite a while as they were still flying overhead when Katie and I were in the street at 6:45PM. At least one person was killed and they’ve opened the little Chapel to rest the body. Rumour has it that some Pisteurs fell in trying to rescue the idiots involved and I pray that it wasn’t a local Pisteur who was killed. Details are still sketchy and we should have a fuller picture tomorrow.